New documentary on St. Pete sewage crisis

sewage dump sign St. Petersburg Gulfport Florida — Sign posted at Boca Ciega Bay in August 2015 after a wastewater dump following a heavy rain event. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News.

stormwater, sewage — A new 1000-foot wastewater injection well at St. Petersbug’s Southwest Water Reclamation Facility. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News, 11 July 2017.

There’s a new documentary on the wastewater dumping problem in St. Petersburg; it’s called St. Pete Unfiltered, and we spoke with the filmmaker.

The documentary looks at a series of massive dumps of sewage, partially treated sewage and stormwater into Clam Bayou, Tampa Bay and other waterways and land areas. Joining us at the WMNF studios for MidPoint was the film’s producer and writer Brandon Shuler.

We looked at the scope of the problem: how much sewage, partially treated sewage and stormwater was dumped into the environment over a stretch of how many storms and how it could affect human health and the environment.

Several years ago when Bill Foster was mayor of St. Pete, the city made the decision to close the Albert Whitted wastewater treatment plant.

Then under Mayor Rick Kriseman the plant actually closed, which affected how much water the system could handle?

Note, a few days after this show, Florida Governor Rick Scott vetoed one bill that was mentioned. Scott vetoed a bill known as “toilet to tap.” It would have allowed more treated sewage to be pumped into the aquifer. In a veto statement, Scott said “I’m not convinced that this legislation will not muddle Florida’s protection of our aquifers.”

Listen to this segment of MidPoint here: